Golden Isles Speedway
Pearson nabs $10,000 present at Golden Isles
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com chief writer
Earl Pearson in victory lane. (Rhett Butler)
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (Jan. 28) — If Earl Pearson Jr. made a "list of things to do before I'm 36," winning again at Golden Isles Speedway would've been on it. He pulled it off with a few hours to spare. Slideshow | Prelims
Leading all but the first seven laps at a track where he grew up racing, the Jacksonville, Fla., driver earned $10,000 for a 50-lap UMP-sanctioned victory in the Super Bowl of Racing IV.
"It's big for me," said Pearson, who won for the first time since the track was shortened from 5/8-mile to 4/10-mile. "I've been coming here many, many years, and all the Lloyd family, they've done a good job on the racetrack. They've got a little bit more work today, but it's getting better and better every night. ... I really am impressed."
Fans and foes left impressed with Pearson, too, as he quickly moved up from his fifth starting spot on his way to the front. Fourth after one lap, Pearson snuck past Chris Madden for third on the second lap, then stole the runner-up spot from polesitter Chub Frank on lap four.
He quickly got on leader Billy Moyer's tail and made an inside move exiting turn two on the eighth lap and led the rest of the way. Pearson's near-straightaway lead at the halfway point was cut to just a few lengths with 14 laps remaining, but he began stretching his margin again by the 40-lap mark.
With clear track ahead of him the final 10 laps, Pearson was able to stick with his low groove and keep Moyer from making a serious challenge.
Madden never contested the leaders in finishing third while Frank was fourth ahead of 12th-starting Ivedent Lloyd Jr. Jimmy Owens, looking for his third straight victory at Golden Isles, started 14th and was up to seventh after a dozen laps. But he managed to pick up just one more spot the rest of the way and finished sixth.
"Everything's going our way right now," said Pearson, whose 36th birthday is Jan. 29. "It was kind of hairy there at the beginning with (Steve) Francis, Chub and Moyer, he did an outstanding job. My hat's off to my crew, they're doing a heckuva job. It's tough to work all week on all these cars and do what they do, I really appreciate what they're doing."
Moyer credited Pearson with running a good race, but he felt like he should've made him work a little harder.
"The car was awesome. The driver didn't do his job," Moyer said with a chuckle. "I was kind of experimenting around my line a little bit because we were only seven or eight laps in or whatever it was. I just bobbled. I could hear somebody right on my (tail). If I'd have hugged the bottom, he'd have had trouble ever passing me, but I was just searching around a little bit and shouldn't have done (that). I just opened the door up enough to let him get underneath me. He ran an excellent race."
Pearson crossed the finish line nine-tenths of a second ahead of Moyer as all 17 cars running at the finish were on the lead lap.
Two cautions slowed the action. A lap-14 caution appeared when Tim Fuller slowed with a flat left-rear tire and three drivers — Darrell Lanigan, Tim McCreadie and Michael England — didn't complete a lap because of a turn-two scramble on the first lap. Second-row starter Ricky Elliott got out of shape exiting turn two and triggered an accident that involved nearly 10 cars and forced a complete restart in the 50-lapper. Francis and Donnie Moran were among drivers whose cars got banged up in the fracas.
Notebook
Pearson's Bobby Labonte Motorsports entry is a MasterSbilt Race Car with a Larry Wallace engine. He's sponsored by LifeLong Locks, Mopar, Lucas Oil Products, Sunoco and Allstar Performance. ... Clint Smith dropped out after 30 laps. ... Tim Fuller returned after the lap-14 caution but parked a lap later. Donnie Moran pitted on the lap-14 caution and never returned. ... Ricky Elliott completed nine laps. ... Shanon Buckingham pulled off after two laps. ... The evening started with controversy when Scott Bloomquist's fast qualifying time was disallowed. Officials checking Bloomquist's tires with a durometer ruled his tires were too soft under UMP rules. His Hoosier LM-20 tire punched 35 (before qualifying) and 38 (after qualifying) on the durometer when 40 is required, according to UMP series director Sam Driggers. Bloomquist was scheduled to start on the tail of the first heat race but elected to load up instead with plans to race the following night. ... The track was narrower in the turns for Monday's action. The infield tire barriers were pushed out about 20 feet and the track was packed down accordingly. ... An overwatered track pushed time trials back about an hour. With the wet track conditions, several drivers elected to skip the first hot-lap session, including red-hot Jimmy Owens. Because the track was greasy during the first session of hot laps, Super Late Models got a couple of extra laps in another session. ... Elliott's team made transmission repairs that prevented him from practicing, but he got a few laps following practice to make sure his car was working. ... Heat races were reduced to eight laps instead of the 10 run in the first two events. ... Among the new drivers on hand for Monday's event: former UMP Summernationals champion Don O'Neal of Martinsville, Ind., in a C.J. Rayburn house car, Derek Ellis of Chatsworth, Ga., Skip Arp of Georgetown, Tenn., in a Clint Smith backup car, Advance Auto Parts Thunder Series regular Tommy Kerr of Maryville, Tenn., and Shawn Beasley of Raeford, N.C. ... Steve Shaver practiced but didn't line up for qualifying. ... In the evening's UMP-sanctioned Crate Late Model feature, polesitter Jonathan Davenport led all 25 laps to top eighth-starting Keith Freeman, Shanon Buckingham, John Pursley and Shane Williams (who won two National Late Model Series features in last week's Super Bowl action). ... Wayne Troseth of Zimmerman, Minn., won the modified feature.
